


If You Love Me (Like You Say)

by TeaLovingTooru



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Christmas, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 22:07:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18291176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeaLovingTooru/pseuds/TeaLovingTooru
Summary: If there was one thing James hated, it was lying. It never came easy to him and he supposed that was a good thing, because lying was wrong. However… it also got him in some trouble. Lord knows the number of times he’d been caught doing something he wished he could have lied about. It was a curse and a blessing all in one.





	If You Love Me (Like You Say)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thatsformetoknow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsformetoknow/gifts).



If there was one thing James hated, it was lying. It never came easy to him and he supposed that was a good thing, because lying was wrong. However… it also got him in some trouble. Lord knows the number of times he’d been caught doing something he  _ wished  _ he could have lied about. It was a curse and a blessing all in one. 

 

However… there was one thing he’d somehow managed to lie about. His relationship status. His mother called him up one day, a week before he was supposed to head home for holiday and simply asked: “Are you bringing a boy home this year?”

 

He knew it was not meant to be offensive or anxiety inducing, simply that she wanted her second born to find somebody and finding somebody meant bringing someone home to Mama. This much was true, at least, that James  _ did  _ want her permission before getting into any sort of serious relationship. 

 

The issue was… he’d just been home for Thanksgiving and when she asked him then…? The answer had been a big fat no. And actually… it was still a no now. The only problem was that Keith was sitting on the opposite side of him and for some god forsaken reason… he said yes. 

 

His mother had been ecstatic and upon being questioned about the ‘lucky guy’, he made it all worse by describing Keith. In front of him. Love that. 

 

“U-Uh... black hair… the most  _ lovely  _ indigo eyes, mama… honestly, you’ll probably cry when you see him, I know I sure do…” He laughed awkwardly and realized that, unfortunately, Keith was looking right at him in confusion. He obviously knew it was him, how could he not? How many people do you know with indigo eyes? Exactly. “H-His name…?”

 

It must have been at this moment that Keith realized what was happening because he gave James a very startled look and began waving his arms in front of his face. 

 

_ “Yes, son. His name. I swear, what has been going on in that head of yours?”  _

 

Who fucking knew. 

 

“Keith. His name is Keith.” Welp. There we go. It’s all over now. 

 

“No!” Keith whisper shouted and James raised a finger over his lips and gave him a look of terrifying warning. “James, I-”

 

_ “Oh! Is that him!? Please, oh please, James, let me talk to him?”  _ She giggled excitedly and James had never wanted to die so much. He slowly handed the phone to Keith and Keith looked like he had made the biggest mistake in the world. He had.

 

“H-Hi, Mrs. Griffin…” He said softly, voice higher than James had ever heard. Cute. Or… it would have been, if not for the daggers he was staring him down with. Nah. Scratch that, it was still cute. 

 

_ “Oh, honey, please… you’re family now, just call me Jenny.”  _ She insisted and  _ damn,  _ Keith’s face was bright red.  _ “So. I hope you’ll give me all of the details… my little Jamie has always been shy.”  _

 

“Oh, you have no idea…” Keith grinned, giving James an evil smirk before uttering: “Jamie is always so sweet…” 

 

_ Wow. This was a mistake,  _ he realized, wanting the ground to swallow him up. Fuck, his  _ crush/fake boyfriend(?)  _ now knew his stupid childhood nickname. 

 

_ “That sounds like my little boy… he was always so sweet. It’s a shame, he comes home every holiday, but it still doesn’t feel like enough… back at Thanksgiving, my grandson sprained his ankle playing flag football and my sweet little man… you should have seen it. He picked him right up and carried him back to the house…”  _ She gushed and James was too embarrassed to see the fond look on Keith’s face. 

 

“Yeah… everytime I am too busy studying to eat, he brings me lunch… he just did actually, he’s so sweet.” So… Keith had used a truth to help the lie… nice. 

 

_ “Yeah? Is he eating properly too? He is so skinny…”  _ Keith laughed at that, biting his lip and his cheeks were a soft pink. 

 

_ He was beautiful.  _

 

“He is very skinny… I always try and get him to eat more, but… he just won’t listen to me.” Keith definitely just outed him for that and James couldn’t even be upset because he forced him into a fake relationship. Good and fresh. 

 

_ “Hmm… maybe hold back the goods. That should work.”  _ She cooed over the phone teasingly and James promptly groaned. 

 

“What, like sweets…? Jenny, he never eats those…” Keith said in wonder and it was evident that he was too pure for this fucking world. 

 

_ “No, honey, I mean sex.”  _

 

In the next three seconds… James would see more expression on Keith’s face than he had in the three years he had known him. 

 

First was shock… then it was embarrassment… followed by anger… then disgust… then it was acceptance. But… acceptance looked a lot look happiness.

 

“Ohh… it’s impossible to hold something back he isn’t getting.”  _ Oh. My. Fucking. God. _

 

_ “Oh…?”  _ And fuck, he could hear the grin in her voice. 

 

“He’s  _ far _ too shy…” He said teasingly, giving James a look across the table. 

 

“Keith…” He groaned, face red and he took the phone back. “Hi, mama…”

 

_ “Oh, Jamie… I like him very much. Your sister will too.”  _

 

“Greaaaat…” 

 

They hung up shortly after that and James was left to stew. Or… he should have been. But Keith was there and Keith was not gonna let him forget it.

 

“James Alexander Griffin… explain.” 

 

“Uhh… maybe not?” He said softly, making a face, but Keith reasonably wasn’t having it. 

 

“I don’t think there’s any getting out of this, Jamie… you told  _ your mother  _ we are  _ dating  _ and I am  _ coming home with you for Christmas.”  _ He punctuated each of the key words, James nodding along guiltily. 

 

“Ok! Listen! What did you want me to do!?” He groaned, pouting softly. 

 

“Do not use those puppy dog eyes on me, Griffin. I don’t fucking care how green they are. You have totally and royally fucked us.” He whined, resting his head on his textbook. “I am so mad at you.”

 

“Ok, but… real talk, Keith. Literally what else were you gonna be doing with your break?” He raised an eyebrow at Keith and Keith was pinned. 

 

“That doesn’t matter! I have my own life!” He said firmly, shaking his head. “And I may be a bit of a jackass? But not even I lie to people around Christmas!” 

 

“Please! It is hardly even a lie!” He groaned, cheeks pink at the accusation.

 

“James! You are blushing right now! And your nose is twitching! You’re lying about lying!” He hissed, standing up and beginning to walk out the door. “I’m not fucking doing this! Sorry about it!”

 

James caught Keith’s hand as he was about to walk past, looking up at him pleadingly. He had one shot to get this right. 

 

“Listen… I know I’m lying to them, but… I wouldn’t do this if I thought I didn’t need to…” He said softly, squeezing his hand in his. “My mom… she is genuinely  _ worried  _ about me… and I don’t want her to worry anymore… if I do this, just once, she’ll relax until I actually, truly find someone… Keith, please… it’s only a few days…” 

 

“Why me…? Literally, James. You didn’t ask me because you trust me with a secret or because you knew I was the best person for it. It’s because I was sitting right there.” He scoffed, shaking his head.

 

“I would have asked you… even if you weren’t here. I wouldn’t want anyone else to my fake boyfriend…” That wasn’t exactly a lie… he just wished it weren’t actually fake. 

\-------

 

It had taken James three days and numerous food and drink related gifts to get Keith to decide. Did James know this was sort of blackmail? Yes. Was he also trying to apologize? Absolutely. He had pushed Keith into this and while they both knew he didn’t have to say yes, he really hoped he would. 

 

And he did.

  
James was actually kind of surprised when Keith agreed, but Keith made very sure that he explained all of the rules to him. 

 

_ “No kissing unless a situation fucking calls for it. No PDA. I will not sleep in the same bed with you during that trip so if you expect me to? No. You have to pay for transportation and my food. Also? As payment for agreeing, you have to buy me that leather jacket we saw in that store window back in October.” _

 

However, Keith was also an intelligent man and he knew that for any sort of PDA that would  _ have  _ to transpire between them, it wouldn’t look natural unless they practiced beforehand at least a little bit. 

 

So here they were, sitting on a couch in Keith’s apartment, inches from each other. Keith was waiting for him to make a move, he knew… but he also knew that he was  _ really  _ nervous about doing that. 

 

How does one casually, ‘platonically’ act so affectionately with someone they liked when… it wasn’t requited? James truly didn’t know, because he’d never been in this situation before and honestly, he didn’t think he knew anyone who had. So obviously, he didn’t have anyone he could ask. Because God hated him. Obviously.

 

He must have been taking far too long though, because the next thing he knew, Keith was sighing and there was suddenly a small warmth covering his hand. Looking down… it was Keith’s hand, softly wrapped around his much larger hand. Had Keith’s hands always been so small…? 

 

He swallowed, looking away and giving a soft squeeze, biting his lip. Keith only hummed in response squeezing back and all James could pray was that his hands weren’t getting sweaty. They most definitely were though. Disgusting, honestly. 

 

James sighed softly, swallowing softly as he looked up at Keith. Keith only gave him a soft smile, biting his lip softly when he noticed the soft blush on James’ cheeks. “We can take a break… I know its not every day you suddenly have to make out with your friend…”

 

James wanted to laugh, to thank him for not thinking he was being immature… but all he could do was shake his head. He really, really,  _ really  _ wanted to kiss Keith. “It’s fine, Keith… gotta get used to it anyways…”

 

Keith nodded softly at that, lifting James’ hand to his lips and kissing softly. James got increasingly more embarrassed as the seconds passed, but he finally shifted, facing Keith with a blush. He was about to gently cup Keith’s cheek before he changed his mind, pulling him in for a hug instead, Keith splayed across his chest.

 

“U-Um…” Keith choked out. “T-That’s… ok.”

 

James tried not to laugh, biting his lip and softly squeezing his hips. “Is it… too much?”

 

“N-No, it’s fine…” Keith said softly.

 

There was a slight flush to his cheeks and somehow, it made this even harder to do. He cleared his throat finally, gently cupping his cheek and pressing a soft kiss to the other side before letting his lips trail towards Keith’s.

 

The only problem was that Keith had been moving the same way and their teeth clacked. And it hurt. They both groaned at that, but attempted to salvage it, moving their heads again. However… this time, it was just horrifically awkward because Keith’s lips were slightly parted, whereas James was very tight lipped.

 

Fucking hell. 


End file.
